SOHAN LAL Vs. RAGHUBIR SAHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a plaintiff's appeal and arises out of a suit for recovery of arrears of rent instituted by the appellant against the respondents.

(2.) The claim was that the defendants were liable to pay rent at the rate of Rs. 171-8-0 per year. The defence was that this rate could not be charged, and the annual rent payable was Rs. 90.

(3.) To prove the defendants liability to pay the sum of Rs. 171-8-0 per annum, the plaintiff put into evidence a decree passed on compromise dated 9 October 1918. It appears that a few years ago the plaintiff brought a suit against the defendants for their ejectment, as non-occupancy tenants. The parties agreed that the defendants should pay, in future, an enhanced rent at the rate of Rs. 171-8-0 per annum instead of Rs. 90, which they had been paying up till this suit, provided the plaintiff agreed to confer on the defendants the status of occupancy tenants. The terms were recorded in the decree that was passed, though the decree resulted in the dismissal of the suit which, as I have said, was one for ejectment of the defendants.